In a move to strengthen its South Florida operations, Banco de Credito del Peru is moving its Latin America corporate business from New York to Coral Gables.

The group’s new Gables bank agency will staff 23 employees to offer trade-related and other corporate services to international clients. The move bucks migration trends by others such as Lloyds Bank, Barclays and Banco Standard Chartered, recently transferring assets or relocating from Miami-Dade County in the wake of floundering South American economies.

With both corporate and private operations based in the Gables beginning this month, Banco de Credito plans to further expand local operations by opening a broker-dealer division for securities trading in the fourth quarter.

The Lima, Peru-based institution had previously channeled Latin American corporate business through New York offices.

"In our case it didn’t make any sense to maintain two institutions within the same group," said bank executive Javier Maggiolo.

Mr. Maggiolo, who will head the local division, said the new Gables office is poised to capture business left in the lurch by multilateral banks pulling out of Latin America.

"We believe that with large US and European banks having left the region," he said, "there’s going to be a lot of good companies that still need financing or services."

The securities trading arm will function out of the same office as the corporate division, bringing an additional seven to 10 people, a spokesman said.

With consolidated assets of more than $6 billion, Banco de Credito del Peru is that country’s largest and oldest banking group, though more than 90% of its shares are owned by Credicorp Ltd., a Bermuda-based holding company.